The ad for today's Nice Price or Crack Pipe candidate claims the car was once owned by the actor, Dustin Hoffman. You might expect it then to be a Duetto, but instead it's a diesel, and a wagon at that. Will its price still make this older Benz a seductress?
How much would it cost to fly to Bavaria? Well, if you happen to be in Wisconsin the tab would be $1,500 because that's just how much yesterday's 1974 BMW Bavavia barn-resider cost. It might not be a round-trip ticket though, as that Bimmer doesn't presently run, but I imagine Wisconsin is pretty nice this time of year.
Two days, two Spätburgunder-colored Germans in a row, what is this world coming to? There's a big difference between Bimmer and Benz however as unlike yesterday's BMW, today's 1980 Mercedes 300TD is a runner, a diesel, and a three-row wagon. Ooh, I can feel the collective piss shiver of excitement that just went through you all.
Not only is this W123 a longroof, but it's also claimed to have once been owned by none other than Dustin Hoffman, star of stage, screen, and, apparently, this Mercedes. That means that you'd probably need to slide the driver's seat back a bit because Hoffman is not only a hugely talented actor, he is also, how wall I put this, altitudinally efficient.
It seems that every time we mention a car with a former celebrity owner everybody has to whip out their John Voit pencils and rub the toothmarks. In this case there is not even that tenuous evidence as the seller here is passing along as lore the unsubstantiated claim from a previous owner. If Hoffman owning this well-worn Benz were an urban crime, it wouldn't even register a kitten fart on Spiderman's Spidey senses.
The car itself might get your senses going however. It has 214,000 miles on the clock and as you probably know, that's just getting warmed up. These cars are legendary for having been wildly over-engineered and built like tanks, and the 2,998-cc OM617 diesel is considered to be one of the world's most durable and reliable mills.
Strangely, this car is on its second 5-pot but the ad does note that this one holds true to its reputation and runs well. Also, while the ad says this is a turbo diesel, I don't think that looks like the blown motor in the pics. Whatever it is, it's backed up by the Benz auto box as is the case with most of these cars here in the U.S.. The ad says that the air suspension has been replaced with steel from a W116, for what that is worth. Hell, I didn't even know they had bags to begin with.
The body is said to have minimal rust, jut showing a little around the bottom edges of the doors, but to be otherwise pretty solid. The paint is faded like Jennifer Lawrence's hopes of forever keeping her boobs off the Web, and the interior shows expected signs of age and use.
In fact, the interior trim on the rear doors looks wrinklier than a scrunched up Shar Pei. On the plus side it does have the rear-facing third row of seats for your friends with less than 20/20 hindsight.
It all kind of makes you wonder why Dustin Hoffman would have wanted to get rid of this car in the first place. After all it's bound to be more reliable than an Alfa Romeo Duetto, and with the efficiency of the diesel it's less likely to run out of gas at inopportune moments. Regardless, it now could be yours, for $3,500.
What do you think about that price for a 300TD in such condition, does that seem like a deal? Or is that a price that's nothing to celebrate?
You decide!
eBay (somewhere in the U.S.) or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to The_Phalanx for the hookup!
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